Caribbean and Latin American Students Emphasize Environmental Awareness for the 2014 FCCA Foundation Children’s Poster Competition

Nearly $25,000 USD in prizes and scholarships awarded to participating students and schools.

PEMBROKE PINES, FL. (June 16, 2014) – Each year, the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) invites students from the Caribbean and Latin America to participate in the annual FCCA Foundation Children’s Environmental Poster Competition.

Students are asked to create a poster that visually depict at least three ways to help protect the environment and promote environmental awareness in their country. The competition’s purpose is to promote and stimulate environmental awareness among students and to effectively educate the younger generations on the importance of environmental protection.

This year, 13 destinations throughout the Caribbean and Latin American region participated. Each country submitted one poster per age category— junior (ages 12 and younger) and senior (ages 13-16)—to represent its finalists. The FCCA then judged those entries to select winners based on their creativity and messages advocating the role each destination plays in preserving the environment.

First-place winners were 10-year-old Diya Sachdev of M.A.C Revn, Jhon Gumbs Campus from St. Maarten and 16-year-old Prisca Charles of C.V Bethel Senior High School from the Bahamas. Diya Sachdev’s poster, “Helping the Environment,” shows that helping the environment is just like cleaning your surroundings and that this simple action saves creatures, maintains a healthy society and promotes happiness for citizens and tourists. Prisca Charles’s poster, “Our Environment Is in Your Hands,” depicts the struggle of a young turtle fighting to survive amidst the trash and pollution destroying sea life today, along with a set of hands that reach out to offer a choice—either to help or destroy the environment.

The gold-metal effort will provide Diya and Prisca with educational scholarships of $3,000, along with a tantamount donation for their schools to purchase art supplies. 

The FCCA also congratulates the second- and third-place winners in each division. Second-place finalists were 9-year-old Amber Lenna Doni from Belize and 14-year-old Tatyana Harvey from Jamaica, and 11-year-old Juan Ignacio Rojas from Guatemala and 15-year-old Donna Ferreira from St. Maarten won third.

Second-place winners in both categories will each receive US$1,500, and third-place winners will receive $1,000, with the same amount going to the winners’ schools for art supplies. The other finalists in each division will receive $200 to reward their good work and participation. In total, nearly $25,000 in prizes and scholarships will be awarded to the participating students and their schools.